Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Estonian lawmakers re-elected
President Toomas Ilves for a second five-year term,
strengthening political stability in the Baltic nation.

Ilves was backed by 73 lawmakers in the 101-seat
legislature, the Riigikogu, in Tallinn today, reaching the
required two-thirds majority. He is the first candidate since
Estonia regained independence in 1991 to be elected in the first
round of voting.

“It was a historic decision as you have for the first time
used your privilege to elect the president in parliament as
stipulated in the constitution,” Ilves told lawmakers after the
vote. “This shows Estonia’s maturity, it’s coming of age.”

Ilves, 57, who was born in Stockholm, in 2006 became
Estonia’s third elected president since the end of Soviet rule.
Educated at Columbia University, he ran the Estonian desk of
Radio Free Europe during communism and later served twice as
foreign minister.

The opposition Social Democrats last week joined the
governing coalition of the Reform Party and Isamaa ja Res
Publica Liit in backing Ilves. The opposition Center Party put
forward Indrek Tarand, a member of the European Parliament, as
its candidate.

Political Stability

Political stability in the Baltic nation of 1.3 million,
which this year became the first former Soviet republic to adopt
the euro, increased after March general elections returned the
ruling coalition of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip to power, Ilves
said last week.

The country, with the fastest-growing economy in the
European Union in the first half of the year, should now focus
on improving the quality of life of citizens and the functioning
of the state, mainly through infrastructure investment, he said
then.